


finally glad (finally glad)

by lutzaussi



Series: where are you going? [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dogs, Found Family, Life Changes, M/M, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12791109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lutzaussi/pseuds/lutzaussi
Summary: Iruka makes his future.





	finally glad (finally glad)

Summer was lazy and warm. Iruka laid on the back porch, ostensibly reading, but in reality trying his best not to fall asleep. It was the sort of day that called for cold beer and soba. He sighed, laid the book he was reading onto the dark-stained wood of the porch above his head. Maybe it would just be better to take a nap and forgo trying to get anything done.

But, on the other hand, he wanted to get at least something done. After a few moments of talking himself up, he pushed himself to sitting.

The garden was in full bloom, the two goats they had kept browsing around it, eating the weeds and grass. He forced himself to stand, pick up his book and return to the interior of the house.

After months of being lived in, the house finally felt like home again. It helped that there were no longer remnants of his parents’ lives; yes, there were pictures, many pictures, but those were on the walls as more of a remembrance of happy memories. Iruka couldn’t help a yawn as he placed his book atop a stack that he was most of the way through. He did need to finish them, they were for work, but. _Summer_.

He went out to make sure the goats weren’t eating any of the tomato plants or anything else, sifted through the strawberries to find the ripe ones.

Someone walked into the house while he was making daifuku with and without the strawberries. Several someones; he could hear Kakashi chiding, Naruto and his teammates complaining.

It had become a regular occurrence, for Kakashi to stop by with his team after he passed them a month or so before. That didn’t make it any less strange, but then again Iruka was better with children than Kakashi (somehow) and cowed Naruto easier.

“Hello,” he said to the kids and Kakashi, not looking up from his task.

“Hello, Iruka-sensei,” the kids chorused. They picked the nickname up from Kakashi, but seemed to think it was not a nickname at all.

“What are you doing here?” Iruka asked them, finally looking up from the food.

Kakashi tugged his mask down to blow Iruka a kiss, lightning fast, while Naruto took it upon himself to answer. “Kakashi-sensei said we have to pull weeds in your garden again,” he said, and by his tone he was not happy with that at all.

Sakura shrugged; Sasuke did nothing at all. Iruka pointed them out back, thought they knew where to go from experience, and fixed Kakashi with a skeptical look. Only when they were alone did he ask, “Aren’t you supposed to be teaching them?”

Kakashi shrugged, pulled his mask down and boxed Iruka in against the counter, “Technically, they’re learning things. Like patience. And not to complain.”

Iruka gave him a withering look, but didn’t exactly complain.

-

Kakashi told Iruka to talk to Asuma; Asuma told Iruka to talk to Kurenai; Kurenai introduced him to Suzume and Ebisu, who gladly listened to all of his questions or pointed him in the right direction. Suzume was a relatively young teacher, but both she and Ebisu had helpful experiences to share. And past that, Iruka did enjoy talking to both of them; they had a regular get together scheduled every couple weeks at one of the tea shops.

Iruka came home from one such meeting with a headache and a feeling that he was in over his head. Sumire quietly welcomed him, pushed him out of the way when he made motions to start dinner.

She started yakitori, hummed to herself while she worked. Iruka watched her, felt as if he was in the past, at their old, small house.

“Working out?” Sumire asked.

“I don’t know,” Iruka said, resting his chin on his hands.

She continued humming, paused when she transferred the chicken onto the miniature griller and said, “Keep going. It will just take some time.”

He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. He knew that. It just didn’t make the planning any easier.

-

Iruka wasn’t expecting to find Kakashi in his kitchen. Kakashi had been out of the village on a mission for a week or so, and Iruka didn’t expect him to be back. But there he was, and when he saw Iruka, it seemed like some tension in his body fled.

“Busy?” Kakashi asked, slumping into the chair. Iruka was momentarily very thankful that it was one of the kitchen chairs that could be wiped clean, because Kakashi had a mix of mud and blood staining most of his visible clothing.

“Mm,” Iruka stared pointedly at him.

Kakashi made a show of rolling his eye, heaved himself back up. While he didn’t live in the house, that was only a technicality. Most of his possessions had found their way into the house because he said that it was easier to get to the house than his apartment after missions. Iruka wasn’t sure how accurate that was.

“‘m gonna take a shower,” Kakashi said, pausing to rub his masked face against Iruka’s.

Iruka squinted at him as he left, went back to shredding cabbage.

Maybe--maybe Kakashi should just move in. Maybe he should ask him that, once Kakashi got out of the shower.

-

It was a week later when he did get the chance. Kakashi had once again brought his team around, this time to clean out the shed the goats lived in. He abandoned them as soon as they knew what they were supposed to be doing, went to where Iruka was sitting in the living room and very ungracefully flopped on top of him.

“Supervise,” Iruka said, raising his book out of Kakashi’s reach.

Kakashi made a pathetic whining noise. Iruka rolled his eyes. “They can clean out a shed without me,” Kakashi complained.

Iruka set his book down, sighed. “You’re troublesome,” he said, as Kakashi took the opportunity to wrap around him like a leech or strange slug. Not that he regretted the cuddling, exactly. “You know,” Iruka said, and the way Kakashi perked up and looked at him warmed his heart, “you can come live here. If you like.”

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, and Iruka flicked him on the nose. “Troublesome,” he said again, as Kakashi rubbed his face against his neck.

-

Adjusting his life to include Kakashi was not hard; indeed, Kakashi spent most of his time at the house since they had moved to Konoha and barely had to move any of his possessions.

On the other hand, with him did come the pack of dogs.

The goats weren’t nervous a bit; on the other hand the dogs were, and Iruka was as well. All he knew of the dogs was that they were ninken and they had been present when he had saved Kakashi from bleeding out. But for some reason, when Kakashi actually introduced them, the dogs all knew exactly who he was

Iruka got the feeling they were more than just fighting comrades. More like--family.

-

Bisuke and Akino took an immediate liking to him, and started to follow him around during the day. Iruka slightly hoped that it wouldn’t be a permanent thing, but on the other hand having dogs always present did wonders for his anxiety. Especially since the Hokage had scheduled a bunch of meetings for him to present at.

The final one involved the other Council members and most of the older established clans living in Konoha. Two hours before it, Iruka sat at the kitchen table in his house, desperately wishing he could disappear into nothingness. Kakashi had appeared minutes before and made the both of them tea.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Iruka muttered, rubbing the corners of his eyes. Hands gently settled on his shoulders and rubbed the tight muscles there.

“You can change your mind,” Kakashi said. His fingers moved to play with Iruka’s hair, loosely pulled into a braid. Kakashi did like Iruka’s hair, and Iruka bit back what might have been a moan when he lightly tugged at the braid.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said instead, tipping his head back to look at Kakashi. From the look on Kakashi’s face, he knew that as well.

“Then do it,” Kakashi said, tugging his braid one last time.

-

All said and done, the process was relatively simple, once the presentations and meetings were finally over. He had to submit all of the necessary paperwork, but that had happened weeks before; finding a space to do it had also happened. More accurately, Tenzou had heard of what he was doing and, without even asking, built a suitable building in the lot next to Iruka’s house. He didn’t even ask the Hokage.

The building had been inspected, he’d had his potential syllabus okayed to the standards in place at the Academy--overlooking, of course, that very little of what he planned to teach tied into the shinobi lifestyle as the Academy’s teaching did. He even had students, which was a little bizarre. Then again, Kakashi had not so subtly been telling everyone what he was doing since he first decided to make a civilian school.

Fall term at the Academy started. Fall term at his own school started, the first term he would be teaching.

Seven kids total showed up with their parents, and the first day was more like an information session than a school day. He went over what he was going to teach the kids, introduced himself, and other business.

The next day twelve kids showed up.

-

The Umino school was a success, Iruka decided. It had expanded from the twelve to a full twenty three kids, and after asking around he’d found a couple of civilians who wanted to be trained as teachers and were willing to work as assistants until then.

The children learned reading, arithmetic, geography, history. Sumire suggested teaching them about gardening and animal care, so that was added. They raised chickens and Iruka somehow acquired three cats to add to the menagerie that lived in his home. His assistants, Minako and Mamoru, taught their own specialties as well, so they learned how to work wood, cook, sew, and behave properly in formal settings.

Suzume volunteered to give flower arranging lessons every week. Anko, who had taken to Iruka like a house on fire, likewise volunteered to teach the kids tea ceremony.

It was terrifying and exhilarating, to know that what he was doing had a positive impact, literally shaping the lives of others.

-

“You know,” Anko told him one evening, when she stayed for dinner, “you’re the most decent person I’ve ever known in my life.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. “Thanks?” he settled on. It was something of a relief that Kakashi was dealing with the dishes and Sumire was out checking on the goats and chickens. Not that Kakashi wasn’t definitely listening in.

“No, I mean it,” she said, and her tone was genuine, her expression earnest. “Most people say they want to change the shinobi system, or they want to make the world better, but they end up buying right into the things they want to stop. You aren’t doing that; I’ve heard that there are kids in the Academy who want to drop out because they’ve realized they don’t have to be shinobi.”

He stared at her, mouth agape.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m telling the truth,” she lightly swatted him on the arm, smiling broadly. “You’ve even managed to make the Council sit up and consider changing some things. That’s no small feat.”

“I, uh,” Iruka stammered. “Really?”

“Really,” she said, as if it was a promise.

-

Had anyone asked Iruka when he was ten what he thought he would be doing with his life, he would have answered living in the house in the woods with Sumire. Never confronting what he had left behind, never moving on.

Quite different, then, to be laying in bed with someone else, knowing they both would need to wake up early to go to their respective jobs helping raise the village’s next generation, the dogs kicked out to sleep on the couch. Different.

Not bad, though.

As if knowing how intensely he was thinking, Kakashi slid his hands up under Iruka’s sleeping shirt. “Sleep,” he said, “or I’ll give you a reason to stay awake.”

“Hm,” Iruka wiggled a little, and Kakashi’s blunt fingernails dug into his hips just a little.

“What are you thinking about?” Kakashi asked. Curious, just like the cats.

“Nothing important,” Iruka decided, wiggling again. Iruka considered that he knew about Kakashi’s relationship with his ninken; after all, they were almost family. Him and Sumire. All of them. The nails scraped against his skin in a spine-tingling way. “But, please, give me a reason.”

He didn’t need to see Kakashi to know that the other man was smiling.


End file.
